Tuesday, June 8, 1999
today's calendar
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B U S I N E S S | Tuesday, June 8, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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20 ‘Jai Vigyan’
projects cleared Lunar group told to refund
deposits |
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Regional imbalance behind
poverty: WB |
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FIPB clears Denso plan
West Bengal to permit Euro
vehicles only Housing loan mela by SBI Anil Ambani is ‘new
hero’ Bharati Telecom gets 2.15 crore
order |
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Regional imbalance behind
poverty: WB NEW DELHI, June 7 — The regional imbalance among the States since 1991 is primarily responsible for the growing poverty in India, a senior World Bank official said today. The World Bank India Director, Mr Edwin Lim said that the Bank’s poverty removal for India was its largest programme with about $ 3 billion worth of resources. Speaking at a workshop on poverty reduction in the Capital, Mr Lim pointed out that incomes have dropped in States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar but have grown in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu after 1991. “This represents a worrisome picture of poverty in India”, Mr Lim said adding that while pursuing poverty removal programmes in the States the World Bank would look for greater participation of local people and good governance. He observed that poverty reduction an important concern of States, would depend on how the State finances were managed in the coming years. The next generation of reforms in States would have to focus on irrigation, privatisation and amount of subsidies that were given for a host of services, Lim said. About 2 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was being spent on payment of power subsidy and was a drain on State finances, he said adding that it prevented States from providing adequate resources for social programmes. Citing the reach of reforms in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh Lim said the commitment of State Governments was crucial for reforms for better results and the Bank would work with States that were open to change. The recent studies on poverty in AP and Bihar indicate that there was a complete lack of trust between people and government functionaries, poverty specialist with the World Bank, Deepa Narayan later told newsmen. While the public
distribution system did take care of food distribution in
rural areas, lack of proper schools and health care
facilities were the prime reasons for lack of faith in
government programmes, she added. |
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NEW DELHI, June 7 (PTI) The World Bank today prescribed speedy financial sector liberalisation and a cut in tariffs as part of the next phase of reforms for India. “India is still the most protectionist country with a high level of tariffs and needs more financial sector reforms,” World Bank (India) Director Edwin Lim told newsmen. Reforms were needed in the pension system, in light of concerns about social security, he said on the sidelines of a workshop on poverty reduction. Insurance sector reforms have been talked about for long, but the progress has been slow, he said adding that the banking industry continued to be dominated by the public sector banks. “The savings rate in India was high and we have to find an effective system for channelling these savings for economic activity”, he added. When asked about the
quality of assets of the financial system, Lim said:
“It is not as bad as in South East Asia and the
situation is not of panic,” he added. |
20 ‘Jai Vigyan’ projects cleared NEW DELHI, June 7 (PTI) — The government today approved 20 projects under the “Jai Vigyan” mission giving top priority to the one on improving the country’s food security. This was decided during a high-level meeting, the third of its kind, attended by Union Science Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Agriculture Minister Sompal. Secretaries of major science departments including space and atomic energy, and officials from the Indian Council of Medical Research and Agriculture Ministry attended the meeting. The government had announced at the Science Congress in Chennai early this year that it would launch 21 “Jai Vigyan” missions to integrate various science disciplines to tackle common problems facing Indian society. Briefing reporters here after the meeting, Mr Joshi said the mission on the food security, aimed at improving the nutritional quality and food productivity, would start this month with top priority. A “Team India”
spirit will be adopted in which various science
departments will lend their inputs to the project. For
example, the Department of Space will give satellite data
on crop prospecting while the Department of Atomic Energy
will use irradiation techniques to produce better seeds,
improve storage life and kill pathogens. |
Lunar group told to refund deposits NEW DELHI, June 7 (PTI) — A Delhi consumer court has penalised two private finance companies — Sunrise Securities Ltd (SSL) and Lunar Diamonds Ltd (LDL) — for not returning depositors’ money after maturity and directed them to return the same with penal interest. The Delhi Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II directed SSL and LDL belonging to the Lunar group of companies to return the depositors their money with the agreed rate of interest and also pay a penal interest of 18 per cent on the whole amount accrued on the date of maturity till the final payment. Dismissing the contention of the companies that the Forum had no jurisdiction to hear such cases as the depositors were not “consumers” under the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) of 1987, the court said: “Failure to refund the amount deposited with any financial institution is deficiency in service.” While hearing complaints filed by 44 depositors against the Lunar group, the court also directed it to pay litigation cost of Rs 300 to each of the depositors. SSL and LDL mobilised
deposits from the public for their various fixed deposit
schemes in 1997 and 1998 which promised interest rates of
15 per cent and above. However, these companies did not
return the deposits even after maturity. |
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NEW DELHI, June 7 (UNI) — The Foreign Investment promotion Board (FIPB) today permitted Swatch to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary here for manufacturing its range of wrist watches even as telecom major Qualcomm’s plea to pledge 25 per cent stake in its Indian venture was rejected. This was part of the 40 proposals approved by the board, which amounted to a foreign direct investment inflow of Rs 125 crore, FIPB sources said here. The board also gave a go head to Delphi to increase its product portfolio through its Indian subsidiary and to Denso Haryana Limited for producing multi-point fuel injection systems in its Gurgaon unit, which would be used by Maruti Udyog Limited and other car makers for meeting the Euro-II emission norms. The Delphi proposal does not amount to inflow of any fresh equity into India. Another proposal from Denso was given the green signal by the board at its hearing today. Denso has been permitted to increase the technical payment it receives from the joint venture with Kirloskar Engineering of Bangalore. Denso Haryana’s proposal for introducing multi-point fuel injection systems does not include any change in equity. The fresh activity would come under its approved investment limit of $ 50 million over the next five years. Motor Industries Company Limited (Mico) of Germany has been allowed to buy-back 3 per cent equity from the general public and hike its stake in the Indian subsidiary from 51 per cent to 54 per cent. The company would, for the purpose, purchase two lakh shares for Rs 20 lakh. The board today gave the go ahead to Nokia for test marketing its new range of cellular handsets in India. In the software development sector, eight proposals were approved by the board during the day. This included applications from advanced training institute for information technology, Resorts India Private Limited, Birlasoft Inc, Royal Sun Alliance, Jupiter Pointsoft, Myquest Systems and Solixs Enterprises solutions. However, decision on
Compaq’s plea to produce expand its manufacturing
and assembling operations in India to include computer
hardware was deferred for a week. |
Microsoft
floats ‘Office 2000’ NEW DELHI, June 7 — Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd, today announced the immediate availability of Microsoft Office 2000, the next generation of the popular office suite products. Office 2000 was launched globally today. The main upgrade of the office system makes the system more attractive as companies link more of their functions to the Internet. Office 2000 is the first completely web enabled desktop application suite in the world. Office 2000 offers a multitude of new features and applications. It makes the task of tailoring office to a given environment much easier by providing ready access to the customisation of settings and preferences. Office 2000 uses the new Microsoft Windows Installer technology to keep track of those installation states and to act as a broker for key programme components. Aimed at minimising both end-user downtime and help desk costs, Office 2000 features self-repairing applications. The file formats are compatible with Office 97, making it easy to exchange binary office documents between users running either version. However, certain formatting options available in Office 2000 will not round-trip since Office 97 does not recognise these features. The software follows through on Microsoft Chairman Bill Gate’s plan to link all company’s products intimately with the Internet, using HTML, or hypertext markup language, the standard form of communications on the Web. Speaking at the launch, Managing Director of Microsoft India, said that “the new web collaboration and ease of use of features of Office 2000 bring the power of Internet to the desktop and will revolutionise the way people use technology to create and share information.” The digital dashboard helps deliver the right information, to the right person at the right time and provides a common interface for all kinds of information form e-mail to corporate databases and from web sources to work schedule. The technology promotes the concept of a knowledge portal, a one-stop shop for users to access all the information they need regardless of the location at which that data resides. Office 2000 software is
immediately available throughout the country and is
available in five versions: Office 2000 Standard, Office
2000 Professional, Office 2000 premium, Office 2000
Developer Edition and Office 2000 Small Business Edition. |
West Bengal to permit Euro vehicles only NEW DELHI, June 7 (UNI) — Maruti Udyog Limited today commenced production of Euro-I compliant cars from its Gurgaon factory near here even as the West Bengal Government issued a notification stating that only vehicles conforming to the Euro norms would be sold and registered in the State beginning July 1, 1999. Car-makers, particularly Maruti, have been caught by surprise by the notification of the State Government today. The country’s largest car-maker is now planning to step up production of its Euro-I compliant cars to meet the demand in this eastern Indian State, company sources told UNI here. The company now produces close to 1,350 vehicles per day of which 22 per cent are reserved for Euro-I vehicles. This would now be hiked by another 10-12 per cent to meet the demand in West Bengal. The West Bengal
Government today notified that only Euro-I cars would be
sold in the State from July 1, 1999. Besides, only
Euro-II cars would be sold in the State from April 1,
2000. |
Housing
loan mela by SBI CHANDIGARH, June 7 — The State Bank of India today organised a housing loan mela where loans worth Rs 2 crore were disbursed to 61 beneficiaries by Mr R.C. Agrawala, General Manager, SBI Chandigarh Circle. Mr Agrawala said the SBI
offers housing loan to an individual/group for
construction of a new house/purchase of flat,
repairs/renovation/ addition to the existing house. He
said that an applicant can avail housing loan to the tune
of 36 times of his/their monthly income. |
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NEW DELHI, June 7 (UNI) — Reliance Industries Managing Director Anil Ambani has made it to the Asiaweek’ 1999 leaders for the millennium in business and finance. The Asiaweek magazine has chosen Mr Ambani as the only “new hero” in business and finance from India. The people included in
the list are “likely to make a difference in the new
era”, says Asiaweek. “From the universe of the
region’s rising entrepreneurial and managerial
talents, we have chosen a representative 20 all under
50.” |
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CHENNAI, June 7 (PTI) — A city-based software company has opened a web page at its website wherein any one can send condolence or any message to the families of Indian soldiers who have laid down their lives in Kashmir and Kargil. The company, “Front Point Systems”, said here in a press release that within a day of starting this page on June 4 on ‘www.india4u.com’ it had received 135 messages applauding the action taken for guarding the country and honouring the soldiers and the hardship they were undergoing in the cold and hostile terrain. “We intend to send
all these messages that we have received to the families
of the soldiers who have laid down their lives for us and
for our homeland so that their families, especially their
children, could always feel proud of them the release
said. |
Bharati Telecom gets 2.15 crore order Bharati Telecom has won a global tender worth $ 5 lakh (Rs 2.15 crore) for exporting push button telephones to Nepal Telecom Corporation (NTC). Bharati Telecom will supply 50,000 push button phones to NTC by the month end for a special telecom network expansion project funded by the World Bank. It is the first Indian company to export world class phones and win this tender against competition from 29 international telecom giants from France, the USA, China, Korea, and eight Indian telecom majors like BPL, Tata and ITI. ICI India: The ICI India Board today announced a proposal for a joint venture with Orica Limited for its explosives business, subject to shareholder’s and other approvals. ICI India will own a majority in the joint venture company with 51 per cent shareholding and the balance will be held by Orica Limited. ICI India’s existing explosives business together with the shareholding in its subsidiary Initiating Explosives Systems (IES) India Limited is proposed to be transferred to the joint venture company. Chambal’s expansion plan : Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd of the K.K. Birla group has embarked on an expansion programme to double capacity of its fertiliser plant at Gadepan by the end of 1999. Besides, a joint venture company with OCP has been formed at Morocco to produce 3.3 lakh MT of phosphoric acid, a major raw material for manufacturing of DAP. The plant is likely to be commissioned by Mid-1999. The company has also received permission for a foreign collaboration to produce potato seed at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore. The company proposes to set up a joint venture project in India in collaboration with Technico Pty. Ltd., Australia. Dabur to phase out 3 brands : Dabur India Limited is phasing out three brands — Keshraj, Dentacare and Level — as part of a major restructuring exercise. Besides, the company is exploring the feasibility of moving out of cooking oils, which are currently being marketed under the level brandname. Dabur is also keen on putting these brands on the block. Indian Hotels : ICRA Limited has assigned an LAAA rating, indicating highest safety to the Rs 200 crore non-convertible debenture programme of the Indian Hotels Company Limited. The IHCL management is in the process of selling two of its hotels at New York and Chicago. The sale proceeds to be mainly used in clearing third party debts associated with international operations. In the domestic context, over a five year period, IHCL plans to undertake a significant investment in the refurbishment of its existing hotels and expansion of the hotel network. Confidential reports : On heavy demand from the flocking foreign investors planning to invest in India, credit rating agencies led by ICRA have begun offering a new service of confidential reports of Indian companies. The service was initiated some time back at the instance of some American, Japanese and British investors who were planning to enter the Indian market with various projects through joint ventures, ICRA Managing Director, P K Chaudhary told PTI. Tata Infotech : Tata Infotech Ltd (TIL), a leading systems integrator in the country, bagged the networking order of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF), worth Rs 3.5 crore. The networking system would be installed essentially between two offices, via a radio link, providing connectivity between 1500 workstations in RCF spread across 90 plants and offices in Trombay and Murthal area, TIL said. —
TNS, Agencies |
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